He opened his dad's tackle box and pulled out a hook.
"You're not going to make me touch worms, are you?"
"Nah, we'll use power bait today." He pulled a little jar of neon green bait from the box and tossed it to her.
She studied the jar. "Looks like play dough." Twisting off the lid, she lifted it up to examine it more closely. "Agh, that's disgusting!" She dropped the jar and leaned over the edge of the boat and gagged.
The small craft rocked precariously.
Rudy burst out laughing. "You're not supposed to sniff it."
"I didn't. It just attacked my nostrils." She gagged again. "Holy smokes! That's almost as bad as the skunks."
He rolled his eyes. "Now who's being dramatic?" He held her fishing pole out to her with the newly attached hook.
"Nope. No way. Not happening." She scowled and leaned away from him. She pointed down at the jar of power bait still lying on the floor of the boat. "There's no way I'm touching that stuff."
"Fine, I'll bait your hook, but it's going to cost you."
"Cost me? I'm already out here against my will."
"Against your will? I didn't force you to get on the boat."
"You literally lifted me right off the dock and deposited me in the boat when I questioned its safety."
When Eden said she'd never been on a boat this small, the image of her on a super yacht belonging to some billionaire filled his mind, triggering a blizzard of insecurities.
"You didn't exactly kick and scream. In fact, you looked like you enjoyed being in my arms." Rudy grinned. "Besides, you willingly got in my truck and drove up here with me."
"Fine." She grabbed the handle of the fishing rod as though she expected it to bite her. "Show me how to do this so I can cross fishing off my bucket list even though it isn't on there."
Rudy quickly tied his hook and put bait on both hooks, then he demonstrated how to cast the line and slowly reel it in. He made her practice casting several times. Her hook nearly caught his ear on one cast, and he decided it was best to just let her leave her line in the water.
"Now what?" She pushed her sunglasses up her nose and looked out across the lake from under the brim of his mom's hat.
She looked so ridiculous, yet sexy at the same time.
"Now we wait for the fish to bite."
Eden sat so close, their knees almost touched, and the electricity fairly crackled between them. His palm tingled as he recalled touching the bare skin of her thigh in the truck on the drive here. He fiddled with the little knob on his reel to keep from reaching out and touching her again.
"Does it always smell like this?"
"Like what?"
"Swampy and...fishy." Her nose wrinkled again, and Rudy couldn't help thinking how cute she looked when she did that.
"It's a lake. Lakes smell fishy."
She tapped her nails on the bench beside her. A sign of boredom.
Her acrylic nails were gone, but pale coral nail polish tipped her fingers. Evidently manicures were a luxury she decided she couldn't afford anymore.
His chest tightened as it did every time he thought about her paying rent on an apartment she didn't even live in anymore. Even though she seemed content to stay in Providence, it felt like she wasn't ready to let go of her life in Spokane.
Was she simply toying with him? Would she pick up and leave as soon as a job offer came her way? Or once she'd tired of this small town?
"Do you..." Eden hesitated. "Do you want children?"
